Bob Willis Trophy, Round 4 Somerset v Gloucestershire

 

Bob Willis Trophy, Round 4

Somerset v Gloucestershire

22/08/2020

 

Day 1

Both sides need the win to retain some interest in the competition. For Gloucestershire, defeat would confirm exit from the competition. For Somerset, there would be an if and a but, however, their imperious need is to take more points from this round that Worcestershire to control their fate in the last round (in which they face the Pears).

The big problem that sides have had time and time again playing Somerset, this season, is to get Somerset into apparent serious difficulties, only to discover a huge sting in their tail.

·        In the first round, Warwickshire had Somerset 226-8 and were fighting their way back into the match: Somerset declared on 413-9 when the ninth wicket fell.

·         Against Northants, 114-9 became 166ao and a match-winning first innings lead.

·         Against Glamorgan, 149-8 and 189-9 became 296ao.

So, when the Shire had Somerset 176-9 they should have known better than to think that that Somerset were in a deep cowpat.

This season, Somerset’s 9^th wicket partnerships average 53.4 and the 10^th averages 65.5: no other partnership averages even 35.

Up to then, things had gone pretty well. David Payne, Ryan Higgins and Josh Shaw had gone through the top order pretty comfortably. The Cidermen were 89-5 and looked like a man after his second glass of scrumpy: a bit wobbly. Bartlett and Craig Overton set about a recovery and had added 75, leaving the Shire’s faithful (there are still a few, I believe) to think “here we go again”.

As a literary lot, they were probably thinking about the symbolism of “The Agony and the Ecstasy” as applied to West Country cricket. There has been a fair bit of the former and not so much of the latter in the last few decades. At 164-5, with Bartlett and Overton accelerating, the former was growing. 28 balls later, Ryan Higgins had two wickets, Sid Payne had two and you felt safe in switching to the latter. After all, there is a reason why Jack Brooks calls himself “Brooksy Ferret” on social media, not that there are many rabbits in the Somerset tail to come in after.

Eleven overs of mayhem. 61 added. Massive momentum shift. You almost thought that it was a strategic move by Jack Brooks to get out as soon as Bartlett had got his century to make sure that the bowlers would get a few overs in at the Gloucestershire openers before the Close. Not even Jack Brooks though would have expected to be deep into the middle order come the Close.

Suffice it to say that Chris Dent is currently top-scorer with 5 and that Matt Taylor came in as the SECOND nightwatchman to see off the best part of 5 overs. From 9-4 after 7.2 overs, 13-4 after 12 at the Close seemed like riches.

Gloucestershire’s first order of business in Day 2 is to add the 25 more runs needed to avoid the Follow-On. It is not a given that they will do it.

Tom Lace, this is your moment. The Shire needs you to show why you were rated so highly by the Lord’s faithful.

 

Day 2:

There are days when it is a relief to be in a mountain region where I barely have Internet and certainly cannot post match reports with the occasional and intermittent signal that apears. Today has been one of them.

If the Shire thought that things could only get better after Day 1, they were rapidly disabused of so presumptuous a notion. There were two, brief moments when it looked as if it could be a contest: for the first half hour, Matt Taylor, the second nightwatchman hung around and the score approached the Follow-On mark. Once he fell, it was a procession, mostly of defeatist shots until, finally, Ryan Higgins, who was hanging-on, became the final wicket. If Gloucestershire needed a reminder of the step-up in class required in 2021, this was it. It was that pre-season friendly all over again but, on this occasion, possibly even more one-sided.

76ao was a new season low for the Shire and, as some doom-mongers stated gleefully, one of their lowest-ever scores against Somerset. Suffice it to say that the partnership of 20 between Tom Lace and Matt Taylor is Gloucestershire’s highest of the match so far and that only Lace, Taylor and Higgins reached double-figures. It was pretty grim.

Somerset batted again, reportedly searching for a target well over 400, which would require “batting well into Day 3”. In fact, they were able to declare more than half an hour before the Close, leaving 8 overs at the batsmen, after setting 385 to win, to which Gloucestershire have responded with 14-3. Momentarily the Somerset juggernaut had been stopped by Sid Payne getting Byrom with the final ball of his second over to leave the Cidermen 12-1 but, from there, it was one way traffic as Lammonby and Tom Abell both registered 101* to trigger the declaration.

To have any hope of survival, the Shire needed a century from the Captain and a lot of help from the weather, but Chris Dent’s match contributions have been 5 & 4 and, of rain, nary a sign. After his excellent start against Worcestershire, Chris Dent is yet to reach double figures and, when he falls quickly, the rest of the batting seems to lose heart. After Somerset had scored at will on a pitch that seemed to carry no threat, suddenly the bowling looked a completely different matter and the pitch, a pit of vipers.

The match will do well to get to Lunch on the third day. Let’s face it, we have been awful, but it has been a learning experience and we now know how much we have to do to survive in Division 1 in 2021.

 

Day 3:

The good news: Ryan Higgins scored 21, to match Tom Lace’s top score from the 1^st innings.

The bad news: only Graeme van Buuren, with 15, of the rest of the batting, got into double figures.

The embarrassing news: The Shire may escape with a totally undeserved draw if Storm Francis does wipe out all cricket around the country on the last day of the match, as is predicted.

In the 24 overs possible due to rain and bad light, Gloucestershire have gone from 14-3 to 63-8 and have been utterly humiliated. The match will produce a mass of new records for Gloucestershire, we are informed, all of them showing what a huge job it will be to survive next season. It has illustrated the gulf between the cricketing haves and the have-nots and the huge step-up between Division 2 and Division 1 for a side of modest resources and squad depth.

If we did not realise what a task awaits the Shire in 2021, we do now. Somerset have been consistently the strongest side in the Championship over the last decade and more so since Durham’s disproportionate punishment, but a side hoping to justify its existence – and the survival of the six “have nots” is again under threat from the ECB’s plans to dismantle County cricket as we know it – it needs to be able to compete at this level, even if ultimately defeated: the Shire have not done that.

 

Day 4:

Would Storm Francis save the Shire from defeat, even if it could not save them from humiliation in the match?

A gloomy (if you are a Gloster, looking for a miracle) look at the forecast suggested that the weather would clear from the West and that play would be possible at some point in the afternoon. And so it was. The whole sorry spectacle was mercifully brief. Play was possible after Lunch and not even the threat of more rain arriving from the west was sufficient to inconvenience Somerset to any degree; in fact, it just concentrated their minds further.

The Shire were bundled out for 70. Craig Overton and Jack Brooks took the last two wickets in around fifteen minutes of play. The last four wickets had gone down for the addition of nine runs in 40 balls: it was as complete a capitulation as a side could desire to impose on its local rivals.

The Somerset attack was relentless and, when the opening bowlers were rested, the intensity remained as high as ever. This is the biggest single difference that sides find between Division 1 and Division 2 cricket.

What it means:

Somerset took 20 points from the game. With Worcestershire only managing a high-scoring draw, Somerset will top the group if they draw with the Pears, taking 2 bonus points in the process. Worcestershire need either a win, or a draw in which they score 400 with the loss of no more than 5 wickets in 110 overs and then limit Somerset to under 200 in their first innings. In other words: it is almost impossible for them to top the group without the win.

Gloucestershire are in a four-way struggle for the wooden spoon in the Central Group. The Northamptonshire win over Glamorgan and Warwickshire draw with Worcestershire move both of them above Gloucestershire, with just 11 points between third and last in the Group.

A Gloucestershire win at Nevile Road in the final round would guarantee that they finish 3^rd or 4^th in the Group: a respectable result. Defeat would leave the Shire depending on Glamorgan losing too to avoid finishing bottom of the Group.

Currently, Somerset and Derbyshire would qualify for the Final, with Essex needing to better the Derbyshire points haul in the last game to overtake them. However, the South Group is still wide open, as Middlesex play Essex in the last round and could top the group themselves with a win or, with a draw, allow Kent to slip through in top place. It would be very difficult though for either Kent or Middlesex to reach the Final: Middlesex can only reach 83 points, which is unlikely to be enough. There is no combination of results in South Group that would allow Hampshire to qualify, even with a win against Kent in their final game, although they could finish 2^nd.

Bob Willis Trophy Round 3 - Glamorgan v Gloucestershie

 

Bob Willis Trophy, Round 3

Glamorgan v Gloucestershire

15/08/2020

 

Day 1

Both sides need the win to retain some interest in the competition. Last season, Gloucestershire pipped Glamorgan to promotion, the win in the corresponding fixture was the difference between a 3^rd and a 4^th place finish for the Shire. This adds a little extra zest to this local derby.

In this situation, to lose the day to rain was a disaster for both sides, but there was never very much chance of getting on the field with a lot of water on the covers and more rain falling throughout the day.

 

Day 2

With one day lost already, the last thing that this match needed was to lose half of the second day too. With more rain forecast, it may take some collusion from the captains to force a result although, in this strangest of seasons, it is not clear that that will happen, even if enough play is possible on the last two days to make it an option.

For what it is worth, Gloucestershire named what was likely to be the best side to try and force a result in bowler-friendly conditions, with Tom Lace replacing Jack Taylor and David Payne replacing spinner, Tom Smith, to give stronger batting and a powerful, 5-man seam attack. In contrast, Glamorgan, unexpectedly, did decide to play a spinner: did they know something that we do not?

A desperately slow morning mini-session saw the Glamorgan openers survive, but with the bowlers exercising a such a stranglehold, including 36 consecutive dot balls, that it was astonishing that no wickets fell. Josh Shaw changed that straight after the interval with two superb deliveries to remove both openers in consecutive overs. With Matt Taylor, David Payne and George Scott chipping-in with wickets, Glamorgan staggered to 71-5, leaving Billy Root hanging-on with Douthwaite until Tea.

Sadly for the Shire, a downpour during the Tea interval ended play for the day and, with just 48 overs possible over the first two days, more rain expected and Somerset seemingly well on the way to victory against Warwickshire, Gloucestershire’s interest in the competition looks to be in the propinquity of its ultimate and regrettable termination.

At 80-5, the only remote hope for the Shire of a uncontrived result is to finish the innings off quickly in the morning and to try to get enough of a lead to allow a victory push on the last day. It would need a lot of luck with the weather and some very good play from Gloucestershire and correspondingly poor from Glamorgan to make it possible. Do not bet too much on it happening.

Day 3

Let us get one thing straight. If, as appears likely, Somerset finish off Warwickshire, to make it three wins from three, even an unlikely defeat to Gloucestershire in the penultimate round would leave them strong favourites still to win the Group, needing only a draw and a reasonable haul of bonus points in their final game against Worcestershire. There is an “if” and a “but” if the weather plays favourites, however, three wins and two draws which, on this year’s scoring system, is equivalent to four wins, should get a team very close to the Final and three wins and a draw will be competitive in a Group, but unlikely to be enough to qualify.

The bottom line is that Gloucestershire had to make the running and use what play was available to best effect. Well, they have done it and in style. The only downside was that, after polishing off the Glamorgan innings quickly in the morning, the need to chase quick runs meant that a batting point was sacrificed in the attempt to move the game along quickly. Batsmen took risks that they would not normally have taken and wickets fell. However, after losing both openers quickly, Graeme van Buuren, Tom Lace and, especially, Ryan Higgins, scored runs quickly and in great enough quantity that Gloucestershire have a real chance of winning.

David Payne was irresistible in the morning and, if Ryan Higgins was not quite up to his usual standards, straying just a little in line and length, Payne showed just what the Shire were missing from their attack in the Warwickshire win. And then Josh Shaw came on and took the last wicket with just his third delivery of the morning.

If the lead of 65 was many fewer than it might have been had quick runs not been the priority, Chris Dent wanted to get the Glamorgan openers back in and take a couple of wickets. Selman and Hemphrey survived the 14 overs, but the score – 23-0 at the Close – shows just how tough the Gloucestershire bowlers made it.

Glamorgan start the final day 42 behind and will be praying for rain. With 98 overs to be bowled in the day, their very slow rate of scoring means that they may not even be safe even if they bat to Tea. The Shire have an excellent chance to make it 2 wins from 3 although, with Somerset on the point of victory themselves, they may have to win their last two games to have a chance of topping the Group and, given Somerset’s form, that would be a huge task. However, given the degree of doom-saying after the heavy pre-season defeat to Somerset and the loss to Worcestershire, even to contemplate the possibility of fighting to top the Group seems like a miracle.

However, there is a lot of hard work to do in the morning to set up a chase. And then, the target has to be hunted-down before we can think of the Somerset game.

 

 

Day 4

Your mission, Chris, should you decide to accept it, is to take ten Glamorgan wickets in no more than about 60 overs, with a tiring attack and then chase down what could be a tricky target in the evening.

Could Ryan Higgins make that tiny adjustment to his line and length that would change edges passed into edges taken? Could a tired David Payne rouse himself for one more effort? Would Mark Taylor and Josh Shaw give the required support, nipping-in with vital wickets? For most of the day things looked good, although you always felt that the Shire were one wicket behind their needs.

In the end, it was not to be, as tiring bowlers were unable to find the magic ball to breakthrough a stubborn ninth wicket partnership. Two tough chances off van Buuren went down right at the end, but it was already too late by then, with the asking rate over ten, even if the scoring through the day was so slow that there was a chance of a chase still almost up to the last hour.

When Matt Taylor took two early wickets to convert the overnight 23-0 into 23-2, the Shire looked on their way, but partnerships kept eating-up overs. At 92-3, it looked as if Glamorgan would escape, only for Higgins to pin the adhesive Selman. 92-3 rapidly became 121-7, but the effort proved to be too much for the attack to sustain. Cooke and Bull hung around together for 13.3 overs and you could see the match was slipping away. A wicket for van Buuren just before Tea re-kindled hope, but Payne, Higgins, Taylor and Shaw were too tired to exploit the opening and the injured van der Gugten batted out of his skin to survive 24 overs until, finally, Chris Dent accepted the inevitable.

Right now, the bowlers will have just three days to rest before taking on Somerset. You wonder how much this match has taken out of them and what the consequences may be if Gloucestershire are in the field on Saturday.

In an unexpected twist, rain denied Somerset what had appeared to an inevitable victory but, Worcestershire pulled-off a surprise victory over Northants. As a result, Worcestershire go top by a single point from Somerset. The two face each other in the final round of games, setting-up what could be a grandstand finish in the Central Group. In contrast, Gloucestershire are 23 points back and now, really, need a mathematical miracle to top the Group, starting with winning their last two games.

 

Aftermath:

Here I am, in deep, verdant valley in Northern Spain, with a very slow internet connection, but stunning views through the window.

What to make of the Glamorgan game? Well, to put it bluntly, it seems manifestly unfair that, having made the running all game, Gloucestershire took home exactly the same number of points (11) as Glamorgan, but those are the rules. The Shire sacrificed at least one and possibly two batting points chasing quick runs, in the hope of forcing a result. The upshot is that they are still a lot closer to the bottom of the Central Group (17 points ahead of the hapless Northamptonshire) than they are to the top (23 points shy of surprise leaders, Worcestershire). Of course, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it might have been better to bat an extra hour, give the bowlers a little more rest between innings and have a short, sharp session with the ball before the Close on Day 3: of course, no one could know at the time that the Glamorgan tail would give tired bowlers far more problems than their top order. Or that Chris Cook would prove so adapt at marshalling resistance from a seemingly hopeless position.

The good news for the Shire is that their last game is against Northants and it should present a good opportunity for a win. The bad news is that Somerset desperately need the win points against the Shire to keep their chances of reaching the Final alive and will go hell-for-leather for them. However, Gloucestershire are playing far better now than the side that was rolled-over so easily by Somerset in the pre-season game and seem to be finding their feet at this level.

One would assume that, Taunton being Taunton, Gloucestershire would play normally the contrasting styles of both Tom Smith and Graeme van Buuren. On the final afternoon at Sophia Gardens, van Buuren bowled one extraordinary delivery that turned so violently that it missed absolutely everything, running away for four byes and he also bowled several balls that evaded the edge, quite apart from the two, difficult chances that went down (a low catch at Short Forward Square Leg and a caught & bowled). If he can be as threatening against Somerset, he may yet give the Cidermen, missing both Bess and Leach, some surprises. However, Somerset have based their success this season on an extremely effective seam attack, to which the counterpoint is likely to be the higher pace of Matt Taylor and Josh Shaw more than the guile of Ryan Higgins, although David Payne’s height should pose some interesting questions for the batsmen.

Effectively, the Somerset game now becomes an elimination contest. Gloucestershire must win or their interest in the competition is over mathematically. Somerset will want to take two points more than Worcestershire to leave their fate as much as possible in their own hands in the last round when they play their rivals to top the Group at New Road. If they were to get those extra two points, they would just need a draw with the same points for each side to top the Group. A draw or defeat for Somerset would all but end their interest in the tournament, so they will want the 16 points for the win and the three bowling points: anything else would be a bonus to them, although they will trust their deep batting line-up to scratch out at least a couple of batting points. However, one suspects that both the Taunton and New Road pitches will be “sporty” and that batting points will be in short supply.

Knowing that Somerset will aim a fearsome pace barrage at them, Gloucestershire would be well advised to bat deep. Depending on the pitch, the last place in the XI may be between Tom Smith and Josh Shaw: Shaw if it is greenish, Tom Smith if it is the normal Taunton beach. Either way, the match will be a test of how far Gloucestershire have progressed over the last month.

 

Bob Willis Trophy Round 2: Gloucestershire v Warwickshire

 

Bob Willis Trophy, Round 2

Gloucestershire v Warwickshire

08/08/2020

 

Day 1

It has been another difficult day for the Shire. 191-8 after 90 overs tells its own story. A day of attritional struggle, with the promise that, unless the bowlers find much more success than they did against Worcestershire, this match will be another battle to avoid defeat.

Three changes for the Shire, with David Payne, their most dangerous bowler against Worcestershire, reporting ill and being replaced by George Scott, Miles Hammond being replaced by Ben Charlesworth and Tom Smith replacing Tom Price.

Despite Chris Dent failing for once – really the rest of the batting seems to think sometimes that they can leave it all to him – when you are 102-2 well into the afternoon session, having been put in to bat, you tend to think that life is pretty good. Fourteen balls later it is 103-5 and the Shire is in the Mire, big time. Oliver Hannon-Dalby is not the fastest bowler in County cricket and has a rather peculiar, round-arm action, but he produced a burst that was far too good for the Gloucestershire batting. It was a horrible reminder of the first innings of the Worcestershire game.

Especially alarming was to see Ryan Higgins fall to his fifth ball. Last season, Higgins and Dent carried the Gloucestershire side to Division 1. Both scored a lot of runs and Higgins was the go-to bowler; this season, Ryan Higgins looks out of sorts with both bat and ball. And, coming in just after Higgins, Jack Taylor is trying desperately hard and has almost cut out all scoring strokes in an attempt to get himself in and make a score but, just when you think that the hard work is done, he falls. This is symptomatic of the side’s efforts so far: the batting seems to lack collective confidence and the cutting criticism of the fans – as opposed to the supporters – is making things worse.

The long and short of it was that, just as earlier, when Charlesworth and Hankins seemed to be batting Gloucestershire into control, Roderick and Taylor seemed to have weathered the storm and be navigating Cabot’s ship into calmer waters when both fell in ten balls: 155-5… the Shire were beginning to fight back; 160-7 and 178-8… the Shire in the shite. There is a collective nervousness that turns one wicket into two and two into three and converts batsmen into strokelessness.

In theory, Gloucestershire have 30 overs more to bat. In practice, to bat out the first hour, passing the 200 and getting a single batting point will be the limit of any realistic aspiration. Tom Smith and Josh Shaw saw out the last eleven overs but, until the penultimate ball of the day, barely played a shot in anger.

 

Day 2

Glory be! The tail raised the 200 and obtained the batting point. First objective realised. Having seen the first over, in which Oliver Hannon-Dalby bent the ball so far after bouncing that there was no way that Tom Smith could touch them, you would not have bet on Shaw and Smith lasting long, but they extended their partnership to seventeen overs. However, when Hannon-Dalby finally adjusted his line a fraction it was always going to be a catchweight contest. The last two wickets fell in the space of three balls just a fraction short of half an hour into the day. Eight batsmen in double figures, just three past thirty and no one made a substantial score around which a total could be built. It was a scorecard that spoke of batsmen never really getting in.

However, this was a much better day for the Shire all round. With overcast skies for the first half of the day, prodigious swing on offer and a strong green tint in the centre of the pitch it looked like conditions that the Gloucestershire attack might exploit and, in the main they did. Ryan Higgins looked much more like the bowler of the last two seasons as his rhythm started to come back and he bowled some wonderful deliveries.

Two range-finders from Ryan Higgins to start the innings, one of which went for four leg byes, the third delivery was straight and into the pads. 5-1 became 15-2 as Matt Taylor claimed a second LBW, to add to the four in the Gloucestershire innings. For the best part of an hour it looked like the case of “the same old story” as Bell and Rhodes weathered the storm and started to look alarmingly comfortable but, with the last ball before Lunch, George Scott took his maiden wicket for the Shire and a mighty good one it was too, despatching a becalmed Ian Bell who aimed a huge drive and edged to George Hankins.

Meanwhile, Worcestershire were putting Glamorgan to the sword and, by Lunch, Somerset were already well on the way to a two-day win against Northants: maybe Gloucestershire’s defeat to the Pears was not quite as bad as it looked?

Again, Warwickshire re-built, seemingly serenely. On came Ben Charlesworth who, fourth ball, bowled Will Rhodes. The Shire hanging in there… just. It was like that all afternoon: Warwickshire took the lead and seemed ready to push on to a significant first innings advantage when a double-wicket maiden from Matt Taylor pegged them back once more.

Twenty ahead, with just two wickets left, the lead may stay small enough to turn this match into a virtual one-innings contest. The Gloucestershire bowlers stuck to their task and looked in much better form and spirits: it was good to see. With Warwickshire to bat last and some encouragement for the bowlers, there is plenty to play for. Somerset’s second, crushing victory suggests that they are likely to top the Group and the rest will be playing for pride but, for the Shire, this season is about preparation for 2021. Today, there were reasons to hope.

 

Day 3

The BBC Live Text made Day 2 unquestionably Warwickshire’s day. It did not look so clear to me. Gloucestershire fought their way back into the match tenaciously so, at best, you can say that Warwickshire had shaded the day. The long and short of it was to start Day 3 with the two sides pretty much level. If the last two wickets were to fall quickly, it was game on. If Warwickshire could stretch their lead past 40, it might be decisive.

What has happened is that the match ends its penultimate day with the clichéd “all four results possible”. It has been a day of punch and counter-punch, with the momentum swinging one way and the other.

Initial impressions were not great. Warwickshire were obviously looking at 250 and the second point and batted with no great alarms. Craig Miles, as the Gloucestershire faithful will remember, is no mean bat (5x50 and an average of 16.3, making him one of the better #10s in County cricket) and Tim Bresnan continued calmly until Ryan Higgins served up a tempter outside off, got some nice shape on it, Tim Bresnan flashed and guided it through to a jubilant Gareth Roderick. Ryan Higgins is back.

The new ball was taken and produced one of the more bizarre incidents that we will see this season. The first ball took Craig Miles on the pad. The batsmen ran the leg bye with Gareth Roderick chasing the ball back of Square Leg. His pads then came loose and, unable to re-fasten them, he decided to ‘keep against the New Ball, standing back, with no pads. Fortunately, two balls later, Higgins produced a lovely delivery on off stump, Hannon-Dalby edged to George Hankins at Second Slip and the bowler had 4-54. The lead was 37 – probably a few more than the Shire would have liked – but 223-6 two overs before the end of Day 2 had become 247ao. It could have been so much worse.

You wanted the Shire to get in the lead before losing a wicket. Double figure lead at Lunch… good. Losing three wickets before knocking off the deficit… bad. The match had taken another twist and lurched towards Warwickshire. The Shire could have been expected to fold tamely, but van Buuren and Higgins first blunted the attack and then started to counter-attack gloriously. A century partnership, fifties for both and then, with two overs to Tea, it all went wrong again as both fell to Henry Brooks. 118 the lead at Tea, but just five wickets left. The Shire in the mire.

Jack Taylor, the man who desperately needs a score, has battled almost two hours through to the Close. The lead is 160. The scoring almost non-existent (7 from the last 10 overs of the day), but there are four wickets left. Any chase over 200 will be tricky. 220 and Gloucestershire might even be favourites.

We are in for a tense last day.

Day 4

YES!!! Nerve-wracking, but a win. A good win even and 20 points.

But, this being the Shire, the supporters were put through the wringer first.

That there would a fourth innings chase today was obvious. What it would be, was not. Would Gloucestershire be bowled out quickly, setting only around 180? Would they bat on for an hour or an hour and a half and declare? Would Jack Taylor, 23* overnight, remember how to count beyond 26? (in the last 12 months, his highest scores have been 26*, 26 and 23 twice)

Either way, with Somerset on two wins out of two, a defeat would all but end the interest of both teams in the competition after just two rounds. Only a win would keep either side in with a realistic chance of topping the group and thus having a chance of progressing to the Final, although a draw might be enough for Warwickshire if they could win their last three games. Both sides wanted the win. Neither could afford a defeat.

The Gloucestershire approach was positive and busy. Jack Taylor passed 26 for the first time in more than a year, but then got out. Runs were taken where available. Quick singles were pushed. Twos were made into threes and the score mounted. Even though wickets fell, the lead passed 200, then 220. Finally, with Warks quite obviously trying to slow the game and avoid a declaration before Lunch (they bowled just 25 overs in a morning session that, admittedly, was a few minutes short of 2 hours), Matt Taylor came in as last man and biffed two boundaries before edging to slip. Two overs for the change of innings saved, but surely the Shire would have loved a couple of overs at the openers and a wicket before Lunch?

275ao the total.

239 to win from 65 overs the equation for Warwickshire.

3.68 runs per over required, well above anything that either side had achieved so far.

Draw the favourite?

Two overs passed quietly, then Ryan Higgins came up to bowl his second over. TRIPLE WICKET MAIDEN!!! Warwickshire 4-3. Oh my giddy aunt!

Rhodes and Lamb got the score up to 50 and were scoring a little too freely for comfort when Josh Shaw sent a ball like a cannon shell through Lamb and castled him: 50-4 and a little of the accumulated tension could bleed off again.

With Will Rhodes still there and the bowling looking less threatening by the minute, Tea was reached at 80-4. 159 required from 36 overs. Run Rate Required 4.42. Warwickshire right back in the match.

The game lurching back towards Warwickshire. Would there be a final twist in this convoluted game?

First ball after Tea. Higgins to Rhodes. Loosener down leg side. Feather to the ‘keeper. 80-5. Extraordinary. Probably his worst delivery of the day. Higgins has a touch of an Botham in his bowling.

A quiet few overs, with Warwickshire obviously no longer interested in the win and Ryan Higgins had to be rested for a final push. On comes Matt Taylor and, with the last two balls of his first over he removed Thompson and Brooks. 109-8. 23 overs to go. Surely the Shire would finish it off quickly now?

Craig Miles resisted 6 overs but, finally edged to the Captain at First Slip. Ryan Higgins had his first 6-for and beat his career best of 5-21 against Sussex in 2018. Middlesex, Middlesex! WHY did you let him go?

Almost 17 overs to go. Higgins and Taylor had to be rested. Hannon-Dalby has a First Class average of 6, surely Charlesworth and Shaw could bowl a straight delivery? They did not make the batsmen play enough and, most overs, Tim Bresnan was getting singles from the fourth or fifth ball.

Nine overs to go, Higgins was brought back and had a full over at Hannon-Dalby, who replied with three boundaries.

Six overs to go, Matt Taylor came back and bowled a maiden at Tim Bresnan. Ryan Higgins had Hannon-Dalby in his sights again. The tension was growing with every ball. It looked increasingly as if Warwickshire would produce an incredible escape.

Hannon-Dalby faces his 30^th delivery after almost an hour at the crease. Higgins bowls. Edge. Gareth Roderick, standing up, reacts and pouches it. The Shire have won with 29 balls to spare.

Oh my word! What a nerve-wrenching way to win. 7-42 for Ryan Higgins to add to his 4-54 in the first innings and 51 with the bat in the second. Best bowling figures in an innings. Best bowling figures in a match. So Gloucestershire do not have an X-factor player capable of changing a game??? If only he had more support.

 

What it means

Gloucestershire go third in the Central Group. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the Shire is still closer to the bottom of the table than it is to second place. To have a sniff of topping the Group, Gloucestershire would have to win and win well against Glamorgan and then, the game against Somerset would become a case of winner takes all ahead of the final round when Gloucestershire play Northamptonshire.  Anything other than a win against Glamorgan and Gloucestershire are out and these considerations become irrelevant.

However, with two of the last three games against the two weakest teams in the group, at least the Shire can dream on for another week.

Aftermath

The two teams with most points qualify for the Final. After two rounds it would be Derbyshire and Essex, with Yorkshire and Somerset, both just two points behind Essex, their nearest rivals. Gloucestershire are currently 11^th in the race, up from 17^th after the first game.

Due to a quirk in the rules, that allows for three groups, but no Semi-Finals, winning your group does not guarantee qualification for the final. Similarly, it is quite possible that, in the North Group, Yorkshire and Derbyshire could both end up with more points than any other team in the country, but then it would be the team with the next highest number of points that was also a group winner that would qualify. Confused? What happens if the other two group winners have the same number of points, wins and defeats (perfectly possible in this compressed format) I have no idea!

In all probability, the third round of games will eliminate mathematically from the competition Surrey, Durham, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, as well as the loser of Glamorgan v Gloucestershire (both, if they draw and probably two or three more losing sides will fall too). A 20-point win against Glamorgan would put Gloucestershire on the fringes of the race to the Final, but still well behind the top four: let us be realistic about our chances even should we get a second win.

So, what did we learn about Gloucestershire in this win?

Well, one lesson is that they were able to win without big runs from Chris Dent. They have tended to rely on him far too much for their own good in recent seasons.

With the exception of Dent and Hankins, all the top eight made at least one 30+ contribution: a big improvement on the Worcestershire game. The winning target was based on getting runs right down the order.

The bad news was that, without Sid Payne, the change bowling looked decidedly thin. Far too much depended on Ryan Higgins and Matt Taylor. The two bowled 80.4 overs in the match, while the other four Gloucestershire bowlers sent down a combined 70 overs. With seven genuine, front-line bowling options, it should have been possible to share the load more. Every time that Chris Dent needed a breakthrough he went back to Higgins and Taylor. Every time that they were rested, the pressure was released. In such a compressed season, with little recovery time between matches, you cannot afford to bowl your key men into the ground.

Josh Shaw bowled one jaffa in the second innings and contained throughout the match, but never looked likely to run through Warwickshire. George Scott suggested that he is good enough to act as fourth or, more likely, fifth seamer and batting all-rounder, but a solid, threatening third seamer was required. Without one, Warwickshire almost escaped. At times you cried out for the nagging medium pace of Benny Howell (unlikely to be fit before the T20), or Kieron Noema-Barnett (now of fading memory, but increasingly legendary powers) with their ability to frustrate out batsmen with a mean spell of eight or ten overs of stranglehold.

In this game, Graeme van Buuren did not get a bowl. Tom Smith was preferred, but just 15 overs of spin were delivered in the whole match, which was hardly a fair trial for him. What little he bowled suggested that if you could combine Smith’s accuracy with van Buuren’s loop you would have a formidable bowler. Combine Smith’s flat darts with van Buuren’s accuracy… best not to think about that.

Gloucestershire are not “a mediocre Second Division side” as one fan (as opposed to supporter) commented as frustration mounted on the final afternoon. Warwickshire are a solid Division 1 outfit – spending 17 of the last 19 seasons in the top division – and came off clearly second best. After the Worcestershire game, Warwickshire, even weakened by Test calls, with an excellent top 4 and solid attack, were expected to ride roughshod over their country cousins, so Gloucestershire are clearly finding their feet. However, to satisfy the critics, this level of performance must be repeated against Glamorgan. More than anything, though, it will be Round 4, against Somerset, that shows how much progress has really been made.

The next round of matches starting on Saturday 15^th is:

·         Glamorgan v Gloucestershire

·         Warwickshire v Somerset

·         Northamptonshire v Worcestershire

The County Cricket Haves and Have Nots Over the Last Two Decades

County Cricket’s Haves and Have Nots

After the comments that I made yesterday about the split of the eighteen counties into ones deemed by popular opinion to be the sides that are habitual strugglers and those that show themselves to be a cut above them (translated: sides that, in a reduced structure, which seems to be a long-term aim, the game could do quite happily without and those that, in the popular view, deserve to survive) it seemed interesting to look at some numbers. As a supporter of one of the counties that some would quite happily see amalgamated into another side, or treated as a feeder for developing players or, quite possibly, just disappear, I have my point of view on this, but the policy-makers in the ECB are unlikely to listen to what supporters such as me have to say about the rights of historic county teams to exist.

We have had twenty full seasons of two divisions. That is enough to have a look at some trends and at which are the Division 1 royalty and the Division 2 strugglers.

My first surprise was that there is not a single side that has spent all twenty years in Division 1… or, for that matter, in Division 2.

The side that has the largest number of seasons in Division 1, if we counted the aborted 2020 season (i.e. 21 seasons, rather than 20 completed seasons), is Lancashire, with 18. But even Lancashire have been relegated three times.

The top six teams for number of seasons in Division 1 are:

Lancashire	18
Warwickshire	17
Yorkshire	17
Somerset	16
Hampshire	15
Surrey	15

 

Seven sides have spent fewer than ten seasons in Division 1 or, to put it another way, have spent at least two-thirds their time in Division 2. The sides with the fewest seasons in the top flight have been:

Derbyshire	2
Glamorgan	2
Gloucestershire	3
Northamptonshire	3
Leicestershire	4
Essex	7
Worcestershire	7

 

Six of the seven sides will surprise no one. I suspect that not too many people would expect Essex to have one of the weakest records over the last two decades. Middlesex are the only other side that, by the end of the 2021 season, will have spent more than half their seasons in Division 2.

Over the history of the two divisions, Worcestershire are perceived as a yo-yo side: too good for Division 2, not good enough for Division 1: the result a history of yo-yoing between the two divisions. Statistics bear this out. No team has avoided relegation over the history of the two-division Championship, but six sides have been relegated three or more times, with Worcestershire the head of this singular league of dishonour, only once surviving to see a second season before relegation:

	Times relegated
Worcestershire	6
Nottinghamshire	4
Essex	3
Hampshire	3
Lancashire	3
Surrey	3

 

Fortunes can change quickly in cricket. Lest we forget, have a look at the only three teams that have managed a run of at least ten consecutive years in Division 1 without relegation:

	Consecutive seasons In Division 1
Lancashire	13
Somerset	13
Durham	11

 

Their nearest rivals in this league are Kent, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, with 9 consecutive seasons each, although Kent have only had three seasons in Division 1 since relegation in 2008. In contrast, Yorkshire’s best run of consecutive seasons in Division 1 stands at just 8 and Surrey’s at 6 (the first six of the two-division structure). Looking at Durham’s performance over the last few seasons since executive relegation, it is easy to forget that, over the last two decades they were, for most of that time, arguably the most consistent side in the country.

At the other extreme, Derbyshire, Glamorgan and Northamptonshire have, each time, gone straight back down to Division 2 after promotion. As Northamptonshire were one of the promoted sides in 2019, they must be bankers for the drop next season.

Until their recent run of success, Essex had been relegated at the first attempt on their three previous promotions. And five of Worcestershire’s six Division one campaigns have ended after a single season (their longest run was 2 seasons in 2011 and 2012). Gloucestershire’s only previous Division 1 campaign lasted just two seasons, so history is not really on their side either in the survival stakes for 2021.

Looked at through the microscope of the County Championship, Gloucestershire are most definitely one of the five, lesser counties over the last two decades. That much is undeniable. Is that though the full story?

 

The other side of the coin

Since the early 1960s, although the County Championship is the title that all counties aspire to win, there has been another measure of cricketing success and that is the one day titles.

In one-day cricket, a team with fewer resources can complete more easily with the sides with giant cheque books. Other skills come to the fore. Tactics and resourcefulness can overcome sides that, in the longer form of the game are simply unbeatable. And a team that does not have the financial wherewithal to build up a squad of Test players and international stars who demand huge pay checks, can target success.

There have been exactly 50 domestic One Day competitions since the year 2000. Seventeen of the eighteen counties have won at least one of them, but two sides have won almost exactly a quarter of all these tournaments between them:

Gloucestershire	6
Hampshire	6
Essex	4
Surrey	4
Sussex	4
Warwickshire	4
Leicestershire	3
Nottinghamshire	3
Somerset	3
Durham	2
Glamorgan	2
Kent	2
Northamptonshire	2
Worcestershire	2
Lancashire	1
Middlesex	1
Yorkshire	1
Derbyshire	0

 

Interestingly, two of the counties that have been most successful in the four day game – Yorkshire and Lancashire – have been among the least successful in the One Day competitions. Others towards the top of the table (Hampshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, …) have had the resources to do well in both red and white-ball cricket. And poor old Derbyshire have done well in neither.

But Gloucestershire, whatever you say about their red-ball record and despite their astonishing lack of success in T20, are definitely cricketing “haves” in the white-ball game, winning nearly a fifth of all the longer format one-day tournaments since 2000, yet this is a team that is not regarded as worth a side in the 100 and a team that many who are running the game would be happy to see go under... it is a mad, mad world.

Bob Willis Trophy, Gloucestershire v Worcestershire - a draw looms as batsmen struggle to force the pace

Bob Willis Trophy 2020

Round 1: Gloucestershire v Worcestershire

County Ground, Bristol

 

Day 1

In this strangest of new seasons and after a heavy defeat in the only 4-day warm-up (an innings defeat to Somerset), Gloucestershire fans might have been forgiven for watching the action from behind the sofa. The Bob Willis Trophy is also an odd format: 5 games against mixed Division 1 and Division 2 opposition. For Gloucestershire, that means Somerset, Northants and Warks from Division 1 and Worcs, and Glamorgan from Division 2. However, even winning all five games and winning your Group is not enough to guarantee a place in the Final. Northants are the joker in the group: it was a toss-up as to whether Northants or Hants would go into what is effectively the Home Counties Group, leaving the loser to join Gloucestershire in the Wales and the West Group (oddly named “Central”).

Gloucestershire have started with a game against a Worcestershireshire side that the team will look at as “must win” if they are to make an impact on the competition and validate their Division 1 status. Worcs do not have the bowling resources of Somerset or Warks and the batting looks distinctly thinner without Moeen, but then Gloucestershire look thinner without James Bracey and the bowling resources are always looking stretched.

It has been a strange day to call. When your side is 205-2, with the Captain in the 90s and looking set to score the first century of the new season, you would think that things are pretty good. Graeme van Buuren had given him solid support with 60 and the Worcs bowling looked toothless and clueless. 18.2 overs later, at 243-8, things were not looking so rosy. While the fall of Chris Dent for 92 did not start a collapse, the fall of George Hankins, who was shaping well, did. A clatter of 5-15 will not calm the supporters who think that the Gloucestershire batting lacks depth and class. However, it was not beside the point that the balls started to move around and the bowling looked far more purposeful when the wickets fell.

Worcs stuck to it and even bowled one over more than the minimum allocation, for which, I suppose, we should be grateful.

You can never tell what a good first innings score is until both sides have batted and sometimes, not even then. If the tail can push the score up to around 280-ish, that will give Taylor, Shaw, Payne and Higgins something to bowl at and that attack is not one to be despised. The first priority in the morning is the second batting point. The second, is to keep the Worcestershire players in the field for as long as possible. And the third is a couple of wickets with the new ball.

County cricket is back. Sir Robert is back in the commentary box and quelled his instincts to the point that there was only one substantial conversation about football and that, strangely, was about Norwich City and not about Forest Green Rovers. I suppose that with no batting feats for North Nibley CC to talk about and the action on the pitch sedate for much of the day, a brief mention of football is to be tolerated. However, a swear box will be instituted for future mentions of the game!

We will have a better idea where this match is going by the end of the second day.

 

Day 2

Gloucestershire’s extraordinary stutter on the first day was completed with an early wicket. When you are 205-2 and 228-3, to require a solid last wicket partnership to get the second batting point, things are pretty bad. 228-3 to 246-9 was quite a collapse even for Gloucestershire fans who have seen a fair bit of this over the decades and are now increasingly fatalistic about it. What on Earth happened?

Almost as great was the mystery of the whereabouts of Sir Robert. Bob Hunt has had his moments, but failing to appear for commentary was new, even for him. The England side of the mid-‘80s was famous for “optional practice”, but optional commentary is not Sir Robert’s game. An increasingly concerned co-commentator’s alarm on air triggered an investigation and, eventually, a family friend and a nurse appeared at the Hunt residence and found him stuck in the bath, unable to move. Fortunately, he was okay and Sir Robert duly appeared at the ground, sheepishly, after Lunch.

Unfortunately, Gloucestershire did not appear after Lunch. They did not appear first thing in the morning either. There is a theory that a side gets the fans that it deserves, but there is no question that some of the local supporters are as fickle as they come and they are seeing confirmed their theories that Gloucestershire are a poor side that was lucky to be promoted. A fairer interpretation may be that underdone bowlers are struggling to find the rights lengths but, when they do, underdone batsmen are struggling to cope: certainly that seemed to be the story of the first day. It is a game that is so much easier to play from the bar with a beer in hand.

Finishing the day at 223-2, but with just 38 overs left, the game is far less far on than might appear. Worcestershire will surely take a first inning lead, but it will be a far less substantial one that they would expect in a game with no over limit. Unless someone is able to push the score along in the morning, they may finish, just after Lunch on Day 3, only about 60 ahead. It will play Gloucestershire out of the game but, assuming that is how things pan out, with just 140 overs to come, the Shire would have to bat badly indeed to lose. That, though would be scant consolation having won the Toss and started so well.

The pitch looks good but, with the scoring-rate turgid, it will take some brilliant, or some truly awful, play to spark this game into life.

 

Day 3

Two early wickets for Gloucestershire might have made things interesting. The danger with taking just one wicket, breaking a stodgy partnership, was that a new batsman would come in who was willing and able to accelerate the scoring. Add in the ability of the New Ball both to take wickets and to increase the scoring rate and both sides could see an opportunity to spark this match into some kind of life.

Worcestershire were looking for a lead of 100 that would give them a chance to chase on the last afternoon if they could bowl out the Shire in three sessions, but would probably have settled happily for 70-80 ahead. Gloucestershire just needed to slow the scoring as much as possible. You got the impression though that neither side was willing to take any risks and that both would take the 8 points + bonus points for the draw. In the end though, the arrival of Ben Cox at the wicket led to a sudden change of rhythm. That was bad enough, but the wheels fell off the bowling waggon after Lunch: 428-5 and a lead of 161 was at 100 more than Gloucestershire would have hoped; 96 from the last 10 overs of the innings tells the story of the massacre, as Cox and D’Oliviera left the attack shell-shocked. It was bloody and it was brutal and even though Chris Dent has eight men of the boundary, the batsmen scored at will.

Note to Management: ask Father Christmas for a decent spinner who can keep some control when there is nothing in it for the seamers. Without one, next season may not be pleasant.

You can ask why Taylor and Shaw were kept on when the batsmen had obviously got their measure, although having seen Tom Price go for 23 in his last two overs before Lunch could have influenced. Maybe he could have tried another burst from Ryan Higgins, although comfortably the most economical of the bowlers was David Payne.

The Worcestershire innings though was an object lesson for what Gloucestershire’s batsmen must do if they want to stay in Division 1: the top five all batted for more than one hundred balls, no one apart from Rikki Wessels, who came in to throw the bat, scored fewer than 39. Wickets were sold dear and Gloucestershire were not buying. In contrast, just five of the sixteen Gloucestershire innings in this match have reached 30.

The killer for hopes of an honourable draw was the fall of Chris Dent just before the Close, for 67. Chris Dent is not a great strategist, as his handling of the bowlers and rather defensive declarations show – his credo is more to lead from the front, as innings of 92 and 67 have shown – but it was unfortunate that, both times, he got a good ball just when he was hurting the opposition. More unfortunate still was the fact that he fell twenty balls before the Close. The consequence is that Worcestershire will have a nightwatchman to take aim at in the morning, with the consequent near-certainty of the boost of an early wicket with Gloucestershire still behind.

To escape, against one of the weaker teams in the Group, Gloucestershire need fifties probably from two of Roderick, Higgins and Taylor. They have to bat probably a minimum of 55 overs tomorrow – almost to Tea – and they have to sell their wickets as expensively as possible. Yes, they can do it, but some of the Captain’s grit is going to have to rub off if they are to do it.

Day 4

The morning was grey and overcast. Once again Sir Robert was absent on patrol. How are Gloucestershire to save a match without Sir Robert to direct the effort from the Commentary Box? Despite this devastating loss, George Hankins and Josh Shaw saw off 40 minutes with nary a scare and with a nice burst of boundaries. That Hankins can bat was not a surprise, discovering that Josh Shaw could too, was. The deficit was eliminated and, Josh Shaw, possibly getting embarrassed at having scored a lot more than several colleagues more renowned for their batting, did the decent thing and missed completely a straight ball… a very straight ball… the fact that receiving a straight ball counted as a surprise delivery was, at least, some mitigation.

Soon after Josh Shaw fell, Ryan Higgins got what was possibly a rough decision, but not one that you could say was clearly bad (it took three replays for the doubts to appear and the decision only appeared demonstrably wrong with the replay in slow motion) and the Shire had undone the good work of the first 70 minutes of the day. Shire in the mire, stuck in the muck… again.

Time and again, every time during the match that the Shire have appeared to be getting on an even keel they have taken a torpedo amidships. It gets to the point though that just two recognised batsmen are left, the New Ball is taken, there are an awful lot of overs left  and the lead is just 64, that someone has to put their hand up and say “they shall not pass!!” In these circumstances you do not need a really odd dismissal such as Gareth Roderick’s: he was given LBW, not playing a shot to a ball well outside off that appeared to miss everything.

A target of 110 to win in 35 overs was not enough. Had someone hung around for just ten overs more the match would probably have been safe. Even 5 overs more would have added another 15 or so to the chase and taken 7 (5 + 2 for the change of innings) overs from the time to get them, making the equation distinctly interesting. A few loose deliveries on the pads and Worcestershire were on their way. In the end, despite a lovely swinging delivery from Shaw that castled Mitchell and a brilliant catch from Miles Hammond, there was just not enough runs in the bank and the batsmen cruised to the target.

 

What went wrong?

The lessons are pretty obvious. There were some decent contributions: Chris Dent on both innings, Graeme van Buuren in the first, George Hankins in the second, but just four more scores over 20. Contrast that with the Worcestershire scorecard. The support was simply not there. Jack Taylor does not look able to play as a specialist bat and the one delivery that he bowled was a half-tracker, suggesting that he is not ready to play as an all-rounder.

In theory, the Gloucestershire attack, with a left-arm/right-arm new ball combination and left-arm/right-arm change bowlers, ticks the boxes. It is not devastating, but it is by no means poor. However, Ryan Higgins looked out of sorts with bat and ball and Tom Price had a difficult game. Brought on near the end, when the Shire desperately needed four maidens, he produced two expensive No Balls and looked lucky to get away with another delivery, being retired immediately again from the attack.

Where Gloucestershire are really struggling though is the lack of a threatening spinner: Graeme van Buuren came to the Shire with great figures, but is not accurate enough at this level to keep pressure on good batsmen. He showed a nice loop, but the length and line were simply not consistent enough. On good pitches you need a spinner to keep things tight for a session while the seamers rotate, while having a spinner who can pressure batsmen into giving away their wicket is essential so, next year, it should be a priority to find an X-Factor spinner: maybe it will be the young Afghan signing for the T20, or maybe someone else will become available.

All in all the side look underdone and now have the toughest fixture in their group: Warwickshire. On this form it could be a bloodbath, but you would love to think that the team will raise their game and be better for this experience. It is not a crisis. Let’s keep a sense of proportion, but improvements are necessary. In this match the Shire had just one, really bad session and another, poor one and it cost them the match. Against Warwickshire, even one poor session will be one too many.

New start. Apply the lessons. Come back better.

Retrospective, Round 1:

Since the two-divisional County Championship was introduced in the year 2000, cricket has split into the “haves” and the “have nots”. The former have been the habitual members of the top division. The latter: Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan might get the odd season in the top flight, but are not generally regarded as being of the same quality as the rest. When there is talk of reducing the number of First Class counties, these are the ones at which fingers get pointed; these clubs exist, in the eyes of many, as little more than feeders of players to the better teams. A logical extension of this is the thought of a three division Championship in which the Third Division would be semi-professional and maybe even permit promotion from and relegation to the Minor County structure. The benefits, it has been argued, are to concentrate money and talent in fewer teams, fewer First Class cricketers, a shorter First Class season and better preparation for the leap to Test cricket.

At the same time, there have been a credo among some of the habituals of the lower division that this standard way of viewing things among those who run cricket in England and Wales is cock-eyed. I have met plenty of fans of these lesser counties who argue even that Second Division cricket is of a higher standard and has great depth than the top division! It is an interesting argument, given the desperate struggle to compete in the top flight that many promoted sides have had. However, the Bob Willis Trophy allows, for the first time in two decades, the relative strengths of the two divisions to be compared directly.

The North Group breaks 2-4 between upper and lower division teams; the oddly-named Central Group, has four Division 1 teams and two from Division 2, but two of the Division 1 sides are newly promoted and Worcestershire were in Division 1 in 2018, while the South Group also splits 4-2 and looks the toughest Group.

This meant that, of the nine matches played in the 1st Round, two were all Division 1 affairs, six pitted a Division 1 side against a Division 2 side and one was all Second Division. Of the six inter-Divisional clashes, four had the side from the lower division winning. And, what is more, the three sides that finished bottom of Division 2 last season, each head their respective Groups after one round.

This is an odd season and no side has had the preparation that it would like. That may have been a factor in some of the strange results. When you see a side as classy a Surrey get past Tea looking odds-on for a draw and then implode when the ball was thrown in desperation to a very, very occasional leg spinner who had only taken four wickets in 157 First Class matches, you know that this is not any old season. Luck and the unexpected are going to play a unusual part in how the early games play out. Sides make their own luck, but Gloucestershire will feel that they did not get many breaks on a final day when they were showing some fight: Ryan Higgins cannot complain too much – his LBW looked out and it was only successive replays that first raised doubts and then showed that he had been unfortunate – but Gareth Roderick’s may be the strangest dismissal of the season, with barely an appeal and confusion as to exactly what the umpire had seen. If either of those decisions had gone the other way, Gloucestershire might well have hung on for the draw; another matter is whether or not they would have deserved it.

Over five games, class will out and one would expect the sides with the biggest talent pool to come through. In a way, the results of the first round of matches have levelled the playing field by bringing defeat to a couple of what are, on paper, the strongest sides. However, you would have to be a brave person to bet against Somerset on what little we have seen so far. The galling thing for them is that this would not count as a first official Championship win.

In such a compressed format, the next round of matches starts to become critical to the ambitions of some and to the self-esteem of others. Warwickshire know that their chances of qualifying for the Final now depend on beating Gloucestershire, unless Northamptonshire can find yet more defiance when Somerset visit. Gloucestershire know that a second defeat would be seen as a calamity and would have the always nervous and flaky support right on their backs. Whatever happens, it is the sides who finish the second round of matches with two wins from two will be making the running in the race for a place in the Final, while any side with two defeats will be staring down the barrel of fan unrest.

 

Tomorrow: I have had a look at the reality of the two-division haves and have nots. There is one surprising name among the six sides who have the worst overall record since the year 2000.